25-08 - Flipbook - Page 74
Mi n i str i es
Is buying with friends the answer to
a tough housing market?
Four friends keen to get on the property ladder, but finding prices too steep, clubbed together to buy a home in London. Could this be the future of home ownership?
The two couples, now each with a baby, live together in a three-bedroom flat in north-east
London.
Francesca, Graeme, Sonja and Kieran, all 34, have known each other since school and university, and lived together during the Covid pandemic until the landlord "doubled the rent
overnight".
From moving in, to house renovations, to the women giving birth four months apart, how is it
all working out?
Francesca, a musician, says when they all bought the flat together in 2022, she and her
partner Graeme would not have been able to afford a suitable place in London on their
own.
Graeme says they would have been able to afford a property in the £350,000-£400,000
price range - but by bringing all four incomes together, they could afford "a lot more". They
ended up paying £650,000.
He says "apart from some estate agents being surprised", there were no massive hurdles to
overcome to buy as two couples versus a sole couple.
They got a floating deed of trust, a legal document that outlines how ownership of a property is divided between joint owners.
Rise in non-traditional mortgages
Meghan Owen
